Come Back When You Can
by IsSheWicked
Summary: AU fic, taking place after graduation. Klaus and Caroline's relationship is new and bright, but what can it survive?
1. Chapter 1

"I can't believe we're out of blood again. What have you guys been doing, mixing it with all that alcohol you've been drinking?" Caroline sighed as she dug through the empty blood bags, trying to find one that was full.

"Well you know the deal; the last person who drank has to go on a blood bank run. That's the main way we can insure whoever's going to get it, won't go crazy with urges." Stefan called from the couch, over the sound of Damon's grumblings. "We all know whose turn it is this time, from the sounds of displeasure coming from my dear brother."

Caroline tossed the empty bags into a large cooler, and looked over to the brothers lounging about on the couch. "Just because the two of you are moping about Elena and went evil for a little bit, doesn't mean that you can just laze about, and do nothing."

Stefan laughed a little under his breath before replying. "Oh Caroline, you clearly don't understand what it's like to, as you put it, 'go evil'. Don't worry though, when your time comes to become your very own ripper, we'll be there with a good natured, 'I told you so' and a light, but sturdy push back to Team Goodness."

Caroline rolled her eyes, picking up the red cooler and bringing it over to Stefan, dropping it hard into his lap. "You, Stefan, are going to dispose of these, while Damon goes to get us more blood, this time enough to fill up the entire fridge. Then tonight we are going to have a night filled with housemate fun!" She beamed, clasping her hands together. Frowning slightly at their lack of enthusiasm, Caroline waved them on their way. "I don't want to hear any arguments, just go."

She spun around and walked over to the kitchen without waiting for a reply. She picked up her phone from the counter and sent a quick text message to Klaus explaining that she was going to be a little late to their lunch date. By the time Caroline looked up, the brothers were gone. As always, Klaus replied immediately, saying that it was okay, and that he would run a few errands until she got there.

Klaus had been extremely sweet and romantic the last couple weeks, being on his best behavior was his way of proving to Caroline that she made the right choice in choosing him over Tyler. Their showdown wasn't pretty, and a lot of violence came out of it. Caroline didn't speak to either of them for a week. When she finally had said something to them, it was a simple note saying that she would pick between the two of them that weekend, and let them know Sunday night what she decided. When Sunday night came, Klaus was so nervous, he sent all of his hybrids away and started to paint a dark, textured mural on his bedroom wall. There was a knock at the door, and that's when he knew that he would be the happiest he had ever been as a human, vampire, or hybrid. Just by the simple knowledge that Caroline chose him.

Caroline put her phone into her pocket, and sauntered over to the living room where, as a new usual, there were fresh flowers from Klaus in every vase. She received them every day, and it was something she could definitely get used to. She took one out and inhaled its scent. Then she lightly tugged on each of the leaves, snapped the stem until it was about an inch long, and put it behind her ear, pinning it to her hair to secure it. She looked to the wall on her left to check her reflection in one of the many mirrors that Damon put up in the house. After fixing a couple pieces of her hair, she decided she looked good enough for the lunch date.

She sprinted upstairs to her new bedroom, and plopped down on her bed. As she lay back onto her elbows, staring at each detail in the room, she still could not believe that she was living at the Salvatore house. Her mother told Caroline that she would have to leave the moment she graduated from high school. The sheriff just couldn't handle having a vampire in her house any longer. So the day before graduation, she packed up all her things and packed them into her car. Her friends wanted to help, but Elena was living in New York on a "quest to find herself". Bonnie was going through some crisis with her family, the human side, crazy as that sounded. Matt was going off to college; he got a football scholarship, and sold his house to pay for travel expenses. Tyler moved back into his house when Klaus promised Caroline that he would stop chasing him, and it wasn't like Tyler was speaking to her. When it came down to it, staying with the Salvatores was the only logical solution. They were never there and had plenty of room to spare.

She tidied up the room, putting things back in their place, just in case someone might see her room. Taking a step back, she admired her work. The drab room they had given her was easy to redecorate, especially with Klaus offering to help. As a thank you, a neatly wrapped gift for Klaus sat on top of her dresser. She quickly snatched the gift and her car keys and ran downstairs and out the door.

As she pulled up to the restaurant, she saw Klaus watching her from their usual table on the patio and she smiled. Klaus smoothly hopped the gate and was opening her car door before she had even finished grabbing her things. She kissed him lightly on the cheek as she got out of the car. His eyes landed on the gift in her hand, and lit up.

"Is that… for me?" Klaus grinned with delight; his dimples made him look like a child on Christmas morning.

"Well yes," answered Caroline, laughing at how excited he got, "for helping with the redecorating and for just being so sweet. I've never gotten to truly thank you for the flowers."

"The flowers? Oh Caroline, love, you don't need to thank me for something that was just overdue. I promise you," Klaus took her hand, staring deep into her eyes, "that the day will come when you're not surprised about the flowers, you'll be expecting them. I promise that that same day, you'll look over at me smiling at you, and know it's not because you said something silly, it's because every single thing you say or do is so perfect I can't help but smile. I promise that-"

"Stop now or there will be no way I can ever top you." Caroline laughed.

"Oh I can think of ways you can 'top' me." Klaus said devilishly and winked. Then he took the gift from her, and after her nod of approval, quickly tore the wrapping paper to shreds. Inside was an expensive paint and drawing set, the same one that he had pointed out on one of their strolls weeks ago. "Caroline… this is so perfect." He lightly kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you." He whispered.

Caroline looked up from the gift shyly to meet Klaus' eyes with a smile, only to see him not looking at her, but over her shoulder. She whipped around to see Tyler glaring at them from across the street. She cursed herself for being too wrapped up in Klaus to even notice. She bit her lip nervously, Klaus looked livid.


	2. Chapter 2

****AUTHOR NOTE** I just wanted to take a second to thank all of the people who followed and favorited this story. I wasn't planning on posting this tonight, but I felt we needed some serious Klaroline. Give me feedback and let me know what you think.****

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"Listen little boy, you should get out of here. I'm sure you don't want a scene." Klaus snarled under his breath, knowing Tyler could hear him perfectly. He walked out to the edge of the patio before jumping the fence and flashing in front of Tyler.

"Klaus, Tyler, please don't fight." Caroline pleaded maneuvering herself between the pair hoping that one of them would back off.

Tyler took one look at her and spat at her feet. He had hardly taken a first step towards them before Klaus had surged forward and pinned him against the coffee shop behind him.

"You will never do that again, do you understand? The next time I see you so much as look at her wrong, your head will be mounted above my fireplace, get the picture?" Klaus' eyes darkened dangerously, Caroline's attempts to separate them not even fazing him.

"So you're what, her protector now? What a joke! What about the time that you were going to use us as sacrifices for your little hybrid ritual? Or any other time you tried to kill any of us?" Klaus flinched violently each time Tyler added a new verbal blow. "Where were you when Damon compelled her and used her as his own personal blood bag and sex toy? You weren't even there!"

Klaus cocked his head to the side, and then turned to Caroline, tightening his grip on Tyler.

"Is this true?"

"Well… yeah, but it was just for a couple months at the beginning of the school year that I was human. Then when I turned, I took care of it." Caroline rushed her words, hoping to defuse his anger. "Please don't blame Tyler either, he didn't even know until he was already a werewolf."

Klaus stared at the love of his life in shock. "You can't possibly be okay with this. Please don't justify that vermin's actions by how long he kept you, or what you were at the time. How could you live with him, knowing what he's done?" Caroline could see the pain in his face as he continued. "Caroline, you know that I love you. I know that he's your… well he's Elena's…" Klaus' struggle for the right wording was evident on his face. "He's Stefan's brother." Caroline saw him frown at the lame ending but watched as he continued. "It would be inconvenient for you two to not get along. But the issue is that I can't possibly be okay with you being around that _boy_." Klaus was staring at Caroline with those puppy dog eyes that she loved, and she wanted so much to give him what he wanted, but at the same time, it was her life after all. She shook her head and shrugged at him. He took once last look at her before turning to the hybrid in his hands and dropped him in disgust.

Tyler laughed bitterly. For the first time, Caroline saw the toll that their breakup had taken on him. He was wearing a tattered t-shirt that had some sort of stain on it. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair laid flat against his head. Caroline's eyes softened with sympathy. She knew that his only way of dealing with hardship was to lash out. Tyler had always been that way, even when they were kids. When Matt went over to Elena's house instead of Tyler's, Tyler put gum in Caroline's hair. In first grade when Caroline didn't invite him to her birthday party because of the gum incident, he crashed the party and threw water balloons at the girls. Anything that life threw at him, he threw back and Caroline was very familiar with it.

The only problem was that Klaus wasn't familiar with it at all.

"Where do you get off blaming me for something that happened more than a year before I even knew Caroline, when you knew and didn't do a single thing to help?" Klaus picked Tyler up and swung him around like he was a ragdoll instead of a powerful hybrid fighting him. Tyler collided with the pavement before he could even put his hands up to protect his face. "Caroline was human back then, and not a single person decided to stop what was going on for a couple of months? Oh but that's right, it's all about each person's own business or protecting Elena, I've gotten used to how this group works."

Caroline searched desperately for anything that could stop Klaus' fury. Finally she resorted to simply walking away, hoping that he would just follow her, knowing that he would.

"Ca-caroline? Love?" Klaus took one glance at Tyler in disgust before picking him up one last time and throwing him down on the pavement hard enough to hear it crack under Tyler.

Caroline continued to walk, not even daring to peek back at him to see if he was following her. The sound of his pleas behind her was enough to assure her. She sprinted at vampire speed back to the Salvatore boarding house. (She still wasn't used to calling it her home yet and probably never would be.) In an instant, she was upstairs in her room, her door slammed behind her. Out her window she could barely see Klaus knocking on the front door. She sighed with relief that the Salvatore brothers were out.

She sat up in her room for about a half an hour, before stealing a look out the window and sure enough, Klaus was still there, sitting on her doorstep. It wasn't until there was a knock at her bedroom door that she even realized how long she had been watching him.

"It's me." The sound of Stefan's voice was so comforting that she couldn't help but open the door.

"Hey." Caroline smiled at him for about 12 seconds before she realized that he didn't believe it. She settled for a hug instead. When she pulled away, she kept one arm around his side and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I heard what happened. Tyler told him about Damon and you." Stefan sighed. He loved his brother, but sometimes he made it very hard.

Caroline lifted her head to look at him. Stefan had always cared about her. She knew that. He cared about everyone really. She had always admired the way he would do anything for Elena. Somehow, she never had to forgive him for not stepping in between her and Damon. She knew he had nothing to do with it, and he did the best he could. He always did the best he could. That's why she considered him her best friend. After all of her friends left Mystic Falls, she had felt so alone. She had no job, no home, no friends, and ultimately no point. Stefan helped her like he helps everyone. He offered her a place to live, welcoming her with open arms. They went job hunting together and she found a job she loved; as an assistant to a big shot wedding planner in a nearby city. All of it happened because the man next to her.

Yet, he wasn't the one. As much as she wished he could be, Klaus swooped in and stole her heart from the very start. Stefan was a good man, probably even the better man, but he wasn't Klaus. She heaved a sigh.

"I guess it's time to let him in. He's suffered enough." Caroline let go of Stefan and started to walk sluggishly toward the stairs.

"Appreciate that he's just worried about you." Stefan called from where she left him. "Try to remember he's doing what he thinks is best."

Caroline nodded and glided down the stairs.

Klaus was still sitting on her doorstep. He hadn't seen her yet. Walking over to the door to let him in, she wondered how things got so screwed up. Turning the knob and pulling the door open, she opened her mouth to speak, but Klaus beat her to it.

"Caroline, listen. You're mad, but I just want you to realize that I can't forgive and forget the way that you can. You know that that's not who I am." Klaus took a breath.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "I understand that, but that's no excuse for the way you acted today. If you're going to be with me, you need to trust me and the fact that I know what's best for me. This living situation isn't permanent and it's what I have right now. What is it going to take for you to trust me?"

Klaus' eyes lit up. He motioned for her to let him in, and she nodded. In one stride, he was inside the house, taking Caroline's hands, and kicking the door shut. "Move in with me."

"You can't be serious." Caroline laughed nervously.

"I have never been more serious." Klaus grinned. "I want you to live with me. It makes sense."

"It doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes perfect sense! You don't have anywhere else to live if you were to move out. You are going to move out eventually, you said it yourself that the living situation wasn't permanent. We _are_ dating, you know. At the time we had just gotten together, so it was too soon for you to live with me, but now? Now is the perfect time." Klaus had never looked so earnest.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. The feeling of his lips on hers reminded Caroline of everything that they were. Together they were strong, powerful, and ultimately unbeatable. She felt as if she could take on the world. Caroline felt her resolve melt away as she wrapped her fingers into his perfect hair.

"Okay." She whispered.

"Okay?" Klaus looked surprised. He obviously hadn't expected to win.

"Okay." Caroline smiled. How could it possibly go wrong?


	3. Chapter 3

****AUTHOR NOTE** Sorry I haven't updated since April, time seems to fly. I've been busy with my own graduation, but now that summer is here, I plan on updating every week or so. If I don't, just pm me and bother me until I do. I will LOVE you for it. Until then, enjoy!**  
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"This shouldn't be that hard. I have the boxes color-coded. Kitchen is red, bathroom is blue, bedroom is pink, and the yellow marked ones are for the living room…" Caroline sighed. "Oh forget it, I'll do it myself." Caroline snatched the box that the man was carrying out of his hands and had begun carrying the box into the house when she heard laughter.

"Slow down, love. You're scaring the neighbors." Klaus called out from the house. He had that grin on his face that equally infuriated and calmed her. He was leaning against the door frame in his house that was more like a mansion or a museum than a house where people actually lived.

Inside it even looked like a museum, with all of the art pieces through the ages, only a few being stolen. Klaus had a known love for art of all ages and collected them. Her new home was even bigger than the Salvatore boarding house, and she didn't ever dream that she would be this lucky. Caroline had big dreams and ambitions for herself, but didn't know quite how to get them. Living here, she considered she was on her way up. She felt like a princess whenever she thought of herself, the girl who was the child of a single working mom and an absent dad, making a palace like this her home.

"If they won't do it right, what choice do I have?" She gave him a very serious look, walking up the steps and brushing past Klaus, who was looking amused, through the front door. Shaking her head violently, she asked, "Why should I let them do it if they're only going to mess up my things?"

"Well we _are_ paying them to do it. It's kind of their job." Klaus lightly plucked the box out of Caroline's hands and set it down on the floor. When she opened her mouth to argue he kissed her. Just a peck, like they would have the time to do it every minute of every day of her lives. The peck was passionate and loving and everything she wanted for her future. He was everything she wanted for her future.

Caroline felt a tingle down her spine. She really got distracted whenever he was around. Her brain was always in planning mode, staying organized was the key. He always had a way of jumbling her thoughts and clearing them at the same time. Caroline was suddenly very aware that the front door was wide open, free for all of the neighbors and movers to see them. Yet, she didn't care. Smiling and tilting her head she asked, "Where's the fun in that? I want to things to be perfect."

"Caroline, it probably won't always be perfect. We're going to fight over dishes or Tyler and we'll have disagreements. But the thing is I'm willing to work through all of that because of the times it will be perfect. When we have our dates, or we just sit home together. The imperfect times will be worth it because you're worth it." Klaus smiled wide, dimples and all.

"We probably won't have that many dishes to fight over, seeing as we don't really cook," said Caroline with a laugh.

Klaus threw the box to the ground and wrapped her in an embrace. He whispered into her curls. "And that's what I love about you."

* * *

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, of course, love."

"Well you better be because," Caroline set a knick knack down carefully on a shelf, "I am officially unpacked and living here!" She gave him a thousand watt smile. It had taken a week, even with super vampire speed on their side. They just had so many other things that they wanted to do. While Caroline was unpacking, Klaus always had a better idea of how to spend their time together.

Klaus nodded and smirked mischievously. "Finally. Now to celebrate, I'm going out to get your special surprise."

"A surprise?!" Caroline bounced on her heels. "What is it? Is it something you planned? How special is the surprise? Is it from your past? Because surprises like th-"

"Alright, alright. All I can tell you is I'll be gone a couple hours, and you will love it." Klaus kissed her forehead goodbye and walked out the door before he could be tempted to give the surprise away.

Caroline waved to him from the window and when he had pulled his car out of the driveway, she quickly closed the blinds. This would be the first time she had been completely alone since moving in a week ago. She and Klaus had spent the days in bed, and the nights on romantic dates.

The last week was one of the happiest ones in her life. Moving in had been great for their relationship and had let them spend even more time together than before. Even though she had practically lived there all along, it was nice to have a good argument to why she should have most of the closet space. Their first and only spat since moving in was about Caroline wanting to replace the navy blue bedroom set with her own pink and green version. They came up with a compromise of keeping his set, but she got all of their closet and another walk-in closet in the empty bedroom next to theirs. Klaus had to keep his clothes in the dresser by the window.

She picked up her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart.

"Hi, is Sadie home? Can you tell her to come over? It's urgent."

Caroline smiled at the numb agreement on the line and hung up. Into the kitchen she went, trying to kill some time. She started a pot of coffee to drink while she waited. Hopping up on the counter to reach the sugar on the top shelf, she heard the doorbell ring.

"Wow, she was quick this time," she murmured to herself, getting the door.

Through the peephole she could see Sadie. She was wearing a modest summer dress and a necklace with a big seashell on the end of it. Her red hair was in a pretty side braid. Caroline opened the door and smiled wide. "Come in, Sadie."

Sadie tentatively tiptoed in, standing in the hall. She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting for Caroline to begin speaking.

"I'm sorry it's been awhile since I've called. Things have been crazy, with me moving in and all. He's out getting a surprise for me," Caroline's eyes shined, "and he said he wouldn't be home for a couple of hours. So we have a little bit of time."

Sadie's body went still. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide in anticipation, and her hands were clasped in front of her. Then she smiled. "It's been a long time. Remember to try not to kill me."

With that, Caroline lunged for the other girl's neck. It had been too long and she was starving.


	4. Chapter 4

The blood filled her mouth, all of it overwhelming her senses. The sweet smell filled her nostrils and wrapped her in its warm embrace. She drank in gulps, the thirst, the hunger, being more present than ever. Her throat was dry and gladly glided the blood down. Caroline was aware of Sadie grasping at Caroline's arms, trying to get her to slow down, but it really had been too long. She threw Sadie's arms aside and bit down harder.

Sadie's heart started to beat harder, as adrenaline and fear kicked in. "Caroline, please. Please, you promised." Her voice was a calm whisper at first, but panic set in and she was in tears. "I don't want to die."

The broken words made Caroline pause. They were words she had spoken herself, and it hurt to hear someone else use them against her. Taking a step back, Caroline wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "I didn't mean to-" Caroline started to apologize but her eyes dilated to the smell of the fresh blood still pumping down Sadie's neck. Caroline went in for another drink, grabbing Sadie and shaking her hard.

"Caroline, I know I said I was getting your surprise, but I was an idiot and forgot th-" Klaus stopped dead in his tracks. "Caroline? What are you… _Caroline?_" He was next to Caroline in a flash, pulling her off of the redhead covered in blood.

Caroline whipped around and snarled in his face. She fought against him, but he was much stronger than her. He kept her arms pinned at her sides as he yelled for the redhead to run. But the stupid girl just stood there, in a daze. "Damn, you stupid creature, get out of here!" Still, she just stayed where she was.

Caroline started thrashing in Klaus' arms, trying to get away. "I _need_ it; you don't understand how badly I need it." She got very still, realizing that the love of her life was the one holding her. Her throat was killing her and the only thing to ease the ache was the blood. Her eyes begged him to let her feed.

Klaus looked at her in disbelief. She knew how it must have looked from his perspective. When they first got together, she asked him to join her in the blood bag diet because it killed her to see him kill humans the way he did. Caroline knew he still fed from humans, but he kept it from her sight and out of the house. She never saw him clean up the bodies, and never heard the screams of pain, just the way she liked it. He tried though; she saw how he struggled to drink the colder blood from the bags. After drinking blood from the humans all these years, she knew how hard it was to try to quit in one day. So she gave him some leeway.

To see her begging to do the thing that she had begged him not to, must look like the most hypocritical thing that anyone had ever done. In fact, it definitely was the most hypocritical thing she had ever done. She understood that she would have some explaining to do, but right now the blood running down Sadie's neck and onto the floor was filling her thoughts.

"What the hell is going on?" Klaus spoke mostly to himself, looking completely bewildered.

Caroline sighed, her blood lust lessened a bit. She relaxed in his arms, and spoke to Sadie in a tired voice. "Please get up and go home. I'll call for you later."

Klaus' eyes were wide. "No, she won't," he said to Sadie as she mercifully got up and left, seemingly fine.

He waited until he heard the front door shut before letting Caroline out of his arms.

"Klaus, I know this is a shock, but I can explain everything if you let me." Caroline was defensive, ready for a fight.

"I just cannot believe anything that I saw. None of it makes any sense." Klaus shook his head. "Are you at all who you say you are? Where is the loving, sweet, human life sympathizer that I thought I was dating?"

Caroline took a long look at him and shrugged.

Klaus rubbed his temples, sitting down on the arm of the couch in front of her. "Do I get an explanation at all? How long has this been going on?"

Caroline took a deep breath, more for the effect than the actual need to breath and decided to start from the beginning. "Klaus, you know how Elena used to always talk about how easy it was for me to control my blood lust? Sure, I killed one man at a carnival and was torn up about it, but Elena only counts the people that directly affect her." Caroline rolled her eyes at the way her friend thought sometimes. "After that, I promised myself I would try harder, even if it killed me, to stick to the bunny diet. But I quickly learned that that wasn't going to work, so I started a blood bag diet. It was still human blood, but I wasn't killing anyone for it."

Klaus nodded for her to go on, his expression unreadable.

"For the first bit, I did very well. I always did great, until I was by myself. When I was left alone, well, that's when things got bad. I had no one looking at me, judging me. My vampire instincts were free to roam without any moral compass. On the outside, I was fighting to maintain my perky cheerleader image, while on the inside; my vampire nature was tearing my good ethics to shreds." Caroline wanted him to understand. If he didn't understand, she didn't know what she would do.

"The first time I slipped, it was when an old family friend came to town for a visit." Caroline sat down, crossing her ankles. "He knew about my … condition. He wanted to help, but as a human, didn't know how he could. Finally it came to him and he offered his wrist to me. I could see his veins." She put her face in her hands, ashamed. "I was stressed about some dance, town function, or something and wanted to let off a little steam. If he offered, it wasn't bad right?"

She shivered at the memory. "I was wrong. I almost killed him that night, completely forgetting about the friend who I grew up with, seeing him as my prey. Somewhere along the line, I realized the loud noise interrupting my feed was him screaming for me to stop. Horrified, I fed him some of my blood and I left him there, alone. Luckily, someone found him after he had healed, and he was fine." She sunk lower into her seat.

"My thirst was far from quenched. It was like some beast had taken over my body with the pure purpose to feed. The beast was smart though, always compelling away my secrets, always keeping the Caroline Forbes image pure. My blood lust was at an all time high and the more I tried to keep it in check, the more wild and careless it got. So," Caroline looked up from her hands, "I came up with a solution. I would only feed from those willing to give, sort of like a blood bank, but cutting out the middleman."

Klaus started to speak, but paused, trying to collect his thoughts. He stood up, pacing a bit, and turned back to Caroline. "So if you have been drinking human blood this whole time, why didn't you tell me? It's not like I'd be mad about it. Hell, if this means I can drink blood straight from the tap now, I think it's fantastic." Klaus tilted his head to the side with a smile.

"You're not mad?" Caroline was a little confused, but decided to go with it. "The reason I hid it from you was because if my friends found out, they'd stop me. They'd do what they thought was helpful and make me stop. I had to be happy, bossy Caroline. If I was open about it, there was no way they wouldn't find out."

"Well love, that may be an issue, but not with me." Klaus took her hand in his and squeezed it tight.

Caroline shrugged. "I wish I could have it under control and be the optimistic girl everyone knew, but the fact of the matter is I'm just not her anymore. She's still kicking somewhere inside of me, but the vampire side keeps her submissive." Caroline stared into Klaus' eyes, hoping he would get it. "The guilt still kills me every time I bite, but the taste of the blood buries it down. I want to be better, but this is who I am now."

"Love," Klaus' smile was still there, "I want you to be who you are, whomever that may be, with me. That's it."

Caroline nodded and smiled.

"Let's go feed."


End file.
